Terrifying Robot Update: Thursday October 2, 2014

Yes, let the soothing j-pop wash over you like a wave, calm, peaceful, yes look at their cute little dancing hahaha isn’t it so nice? What do you mean when the lights cut you couldn’t see anything except their faintly glowing pom-pom hands and their eyes which light up like coal fires that looked to you like the gates of hell? What do you mean you think they can see in the dark?

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Last week, at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, MIT researchers unveiled an oval-shaped submersible robot, a little smaller than a football, with a flattened panel on one side that it can slide along an underwater surface to perform ultrasound scans.

Originally designed to look for cracks in nuclear reactors’ water tanks, the robot could also inspect ships for the false hulls and propeller shafts that smugglers frequently use to hide contraband. Because of its small size and unique propulsion mechanism — which leaves no visible wake — the robots could, in theory, be concealed in clumps of algae or other camouflage. Fleets of them could swarm over ships at port without alerting smugglers and giving them the chance to jettison their cargo. (via)

Swarms of underwater robot cops WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

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Maybe they could team up with the underwater cop-bots make a full school of robots?

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Oh great a STEM teaching robo-fascist that doesn’t want you to play with other toys AWESOME

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This is a video of a swarm of robots coordinated by a drone. This is a video of a swarm of robots coordinated by a drone. This is a video of a swarm of robots coordinated by a drone.